152/24
S. Hierom. Jerome admonished Oceanus
for interpreting 1 Tim. 3.2 in a restrictive manner, i.e., as excluding
from ordination those who had been married before Baptism and then,
after Baptism and as widowers, married once more. Against
this exclusion, Jerome appeals to the widespread practice of admitting
such remarried men to orders. For Jerome, to take account of
their first marriage is tantamount to questioning the baptismal
re-creation of the person. Cf. Ep. 69, To Oceanus (AD 397), Par. 2–5 (PL
22.654–59; CSEL 54.680–89; 2NPNF 6.142–45). Tyndale takes Oceanus as
representing a Roman practice of excluding the remarried ,
which More had claimed was universal, based on the patristic
interpretation of 1 Tim. 3.2 (CWM 6/1.304/13–305/30). The facts pointed
out by Jerome undercut More's case for an early Christian
preference for a celibate clergy. (JW)
152/26–27
clargye . . .
two wyues. Cf. 1 Tim. 3.2.
152/31
misteries of
wekednesse. Translation of mysterium
iniquitatis, 2 Thess. 2.7.
153/2–3
vnto him that hath
no helpe/is there one helpe / to loke for no
helpe. This is Tyndale's version of Una salus
victis nullam sperare salutem, "The one safety of the conquered
is to hope for no safety" (Aeneid 2.354); John
Bartlett, Familiar Quotations, 15th ed. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1980) p. 105, no. 2.
Elizabeth McCutcheon calls attention to
the quotation and gloss on Virgil in Tyndale's second letter to Frith in
the Tower (cMay 1533): "[T]o look for no man's help, bringeth the help
of God to them that seem to be overcome in the eyes of the hypocrites"
(Foxe 5.132) in "Prison Letters of More and Tyndale," WCS 248 and
n12.
153/5–6
he that . . .
preest. Cf. CWM 6/1.305/7–9.
153/7–8
if . . . aftir
marie. Cf. CWM 6/1.310/8–9. More does not mention that Greek
canon law forbids a priest to remarry after his wife dies, but he does
acknowledge that Greek tradition prohibits an unmarried man from
marrying once he has been ordained. In 692 the provincial council of
Trullo affirmed that married deacons and priests could keep their wives
(Canon 13) (FJO 159, 163; 2NPNF 14.371), but that the wife of one chosen
to become a bishop must retire to a monastery (Canon 48) (FJO 160; 2NPNF
14.388). The Latin Church recognizes the customs of the Oriental
Churches regarding a married clergy, cf. Gratian, Decretum, Part 1, Dist. 31, Ch. 14 (CIC 1.115).
153/8
iff he burnt.
Cf. 1 Cor. 7.9.
153/12–13
kyngdome . . .
drynke. Rom. 14.17.
153/14
kepinge of the
commaundementes. Cf. Matt. 19.17.
153/15–17
as meate . . .
degrees. Cf. CWM 8/1.74/11–12.